Jimmy Lai, the pro-democracy tycoon, wears imprisoned in Hong Kong since December 2020 and faces life in prison. The tycoon, earlier this month, was convicted of collusion with foreign forces under the city’s controversial national security law (NSL).
your daughterClaire Lai, explained in an interview with the BBC that is found worried about deteriorating health of his father in prison. “Their nails sometimes fall out and their teeth are rotting,” he said. YesHowever, both Hong Kong and Chinese authorities have denied that Lai was mistreated in prison and have stated that he is in “good health.”
At the Lai family has urged his release when he meets with the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, next month, through a letter to which the BBCsent to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
His daughter, exiled in London, she fears “never seeing him again” and she has stated that she is concerned about her father becoming a martyr, because she does not want him to be one. However, he considers this to be his best opportunity to reunite with his family.
health problems
His daughter mentions that Jimmy Lai, when he entered prison, was “an extremely robust and strong man,” but that in the last year he had “lost a significant amount of weight.”
Explain what it is diabetic and has heart disease that he had not suffered before. Just as his nails are a purplish gray color, which sometimes causes them to fall out, and rotten teeth.
Jimmy Lai fell back and waist painwhich makes it difficult for him to stand and sometimes he cannot even get out of bed.
This is not the first time that Lai’s family has expressed concern about the tycoon’s health; at the beginning of this year, your son, Sébastienwarned the BBC, that his father’s body was deteriorating.
In contrast, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China in Hong Kong declared in early December that the “Lai’s legitimate rights and interests have been fully protected and that enjoys good health“.
They added that Lai has been provided “a safe, humane, appropriate and healthy detention environment in accordance with the law.”
Possible life sentence
On December 15, the Hong Kong Supreme Court found the businessman and publisher guilty from the diary Apple Daily, Jimmy Lai, 78, from two counts of conspiracy with foreign forces and a crime of sedition linked to the dissemination of subversive material, which could result in a life sentence.
The verdict, announced amid great media excitement, put an end to a five-year judicial process, although the final sentence will not be known until January next.
During the reading, judge Esther Toh —one of the three magistrates that make up the court— considered it proven that Lai conspired with third parties to undermine national security and that the accused harbors “hatred and resentment” against China. This conviction marked the end of the democratic era in Hong Kong for many.
The newspaper editor Apple Dailyimprisoned since 2020, saw his newspaper closed in 2021 after a raid with 500 agents that resulted in the blocking of its assets and the arrest of part of its management.